D.A.: Garridos Have More Victims
PLACERVILLE, Calif. (CBS13) -- The El Dorado County District Attorney said he has reached the "inescapable" conclusion that Phillip and Nancy Garrido targeted more children besides Jaycee Lee Dugard, the kidnapping victim who was held captive in their Antioch backyard for 18 years.
District Attorney Vern Pierson said Wednesday he believes Phillip Garrido knows what happened to other young girls who went missing, including Michaela Garecht, a Bay Area abduction case with chilling similarities to Dugard's kidnapping.
"We've spent a lot of time trying to identify other prosecutable crimes," Pierson said.
Michaela's mother, Sharon Murch, said she has wondered if Garrido was responsible for her daughter's disappearance but isn't convinced he was the culprit.
Michaela was 9 years old on November 19, 1988, when a man approached her from behind as she was walking to a market with a friend and grabbed her, dragging the screaming girl into his vehicle.
After Dugard was found alive in 2009, Sharon said she had faith that Michaela was still alive.
"I leaped up and I was absolutely positive, I had no doubt in my mind that they would find Michaela with [Jaycee]," she said, but added that she isn't so sure Garrido was responsible for her daughter's kidnapping. "I don't necessarily believe it, but I think it's a possibility."
"If Phillip or Nancy Garrido has any information about Michaela, I wish they would tell us," Sharon said.
The similarities in appearance between Jaycee and Michaela are striking, and both were kidnapped under similar circumstances. A vehicle pulled out of the Garridos' backyard matched the description of the suspect's vehicle in Michaela's kidnapping, Pierson said.
Hayward detectives still haven't interviewed either of the Garridos because a judge forbid other law enforcement agencies from questioning them. Now that the Garridos have been sentenced and are in state prison, that may change.
